Today we launched free plans for a new family of round-bilged sea kayaks at http://www.cnckayaks.com
The Vember family is designed for rough water handling, with strip-built hulls and plywood decks.
I designed Vember to be my ultimate sea kayak. She is the result of years of dreaming, and 18 months of designing, building and testing. On her first paddle I knew she was as perfect as I could make her. She has a smooth range of stability, she tracks beautifully in windy conditions, she handles well in rough water, and is half the weight of my regular fibreglass sea kayak.
The free plans and 59 page Build Manual are downloadable from http://www.cnckayaks.com

Nick

Last edited by nickcrowhurst on Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

You are invited to join the annual Gathering of Shrikes and Vembers and their builders at Saltash slipway on the Tamar River, the boundary between Devon and Cornwall, at 10 a.m. on Sunday 21st May,2017. High Water is 1438 . The slip has free parking, public toilets, and access at all states of tide to extensive, sheltered and interesting paddling waters. You are very welcome to paddle any kayak you bring, or, if you let me know, we'll provide one for you. We'll paddle about a mile north to a small beach near Neal Point, where we'll swap boats, swap yarns, and munch our lunch. The Shrikes and Vembers will be of various sizes, and show a range of design options.You will have the opportunity to paddle these designs.
In the three years of the project over 3,500 copies of the free plans have been downloaded world-wide, 125 builders have been kind enough to send me details of their constructions, and their photos of completed kayaks can be seen in the Galleries at http://www.cnckayaks.com
The slipway is by the T of "Tamar BR" on the above map. We'd be delighted to see you on Sunday the 21st May.
Nick.

Last edited by nickcrowhurst on Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

We've just received details from Greg Belyakov (Post above on 6th April) of his 5 year old daughter, Katya, and her first paddle in her 66% scale Shrike. They live in Eastern Russia. More details of its construction in our Gallery at http://cnckayaks.com/2017/05/23/1986/
That makes me very happy.
Nick

Last edited by nickcrowhurst on Tue Jan 30, 2018 1:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

nickcrowhurst wrote:
Today we launched free plans for a new family of round-bilged sea kayaks at http://www.cnckayaks.com
The Vember family...
Nick

I've finally stumbled onto some plyboard from a local boat builder (an extremely rare animal this far inland) and have LONG (since last year at least) wanted to make a Shrike.

But now VEMBER!

The Vember is so gorgeous and "Ultimate" appearing to me that it may well be my first try at making a sea kayak. I'm torn. I don't want to make a Shrike and long for a Vember, but I feel I can make a Vember and not pine for a Shrike.

Any more Vember/ex's been built? And I'm slightly twisted towards a Vembex as ultimately I'd like to camp from the boat, but am going to fight that urge and get familiar with the waters in the "stubby" version. Any sea kayak I build will be my first of such type.

Thanks for the great plans and files. I may be able to get the forms cut on a CNC machine as well.

Wade, messages like yours are what makes the project worthwhile, so thank you. The Vember plans have only been available to the world for about 14 weeks, and although 450 copies of the plans have been downloaded it's rather soon for any more to have been built.
The Shrike is quicker to build: 100 hours rather than 150 hours for a Vember, and the difference is entirely due to the different methods of hull construction.

Shrike has the characteristics of a West Greenland kayak. (see the origins tab for details of how this affects performance), whereas the Vember family has the more familiar handling and stability of a rough-water Brit-style kayak.
If you're impatient to get afloat, then a stitch & glue Shrike might suit you. A standard Vember would certainly take camping gear, and you can raise the gunwales during construction if necessary for your weight. However, I'm particularly pleased with the looks and handling of Vembex, the Vember expedition version.
Bear in mind that you can change the length of a Vember by altering the spacing of the forms, but you can also change the beam, independently of changing the length, just by printing out the forms plans (or controlling a CNC machine) at a % scale of your choice.
I've attached a photo of three Shrikes and Vember on the beach at the recent Gathering.
I'm delighted that you are considering building one of our kayaks. Do keep in touch. You can use the Private Messaging system on this forum, or email via our website. I've dealt with over 4,000 Shrike emails in the three years since the project was launched.
With best wishes, from Nick

Last edited by nickcrowhurst on Tue Jan 30, 2018 1:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Photobucket, the web photo uploading service, has, without notice, retrospectively disabled the ability to embed the photos in 3rd party websites such as this one. To recover the photos I have placed in previous years requires a fee of $400 or $40 per month:https://www.ghacks.net/2017/06/30/photo ... ed-images/

Meanwhile, here is a a Flickr link to a photo of the Vember Expedition currently under construction in a basement in Minnesota. The hull required 63 cups of coffee to complete:https://flic.kr/p/W4AQQ9

another beautiful construction but I don't think anyone has yet asked possibly the most important question....how on earth do most of these kayak builders manage to keep their workshops so tidy and neat??
Do they tidy them just for the photo?
It's just not natural....surely every normal workshop should look like there has been a small landslide of 'stuff' and would have enough trip hazards to give a Heath and Safety officer palpitations.

Rog, you're right. Well-balanced people would not have a tidy workshop. However, my OCD is happiest with "a place for everything and everything in its place." My brain hates searching fruitlessly for items.
Nick

It's a rainy, breezy day here in Aboyne so naturally I'm thinking about building a kayak as a winter project. I've seen the builders' tips but is there a discussion forum for tips. hints and advice as you go through the process? I'm looking at a Shrike for a 150lb slim build paddler. Should I add 10/15lbs for gear for the very occasional overnight trips?

Spike, you'll be fine with a standard size Shrike for the trips you mention. For advice and hints you can go to our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CNCKayaks or you can contact me, initially via the PM system on this forum. (See the contact bubble to the right.) Don't be shy. One of our builders in Istanbul has exchanged well over one hundred emails with me, and I've learned a lot from him. You'll be part of a world-wide network of builders who will happily exchange hints and tips. I'm very glad you'll be joining the team.
With best wishes, from Nick.

Right well I've persuaded myself that this is the way to go. Thanks for the advice about acquiring the materials. I'll now proceed to get the plans and start thinking about the build and prepare the ground and get some resources and tools organised. Thanks, Nick.

My top tip for getting on with the job quickly is to not bother with the 'stitching' part of the stitch-and-glue technique. Just get a second pair of hands to help, then lay the panels out in the external clamps. Use masking tape to hold the panels in position together and then glue them using small dots of superglue and accelerant spray. If you make a mistake, just break the glued join and re-glue it. Then you can apply the epoxy fillet and glass strip. It's ridiculously quick to do it this way and you'll have no little holes along the seams of your boat. Wish I'd known about this before starting my first one!

That's v. helpful. I was intending to use Fyneboats. I was toying with using tape but was a bit 'feart' (Scots word) that it might go horribly wrong. Taking your advice I think I'll go for tape - maybe something a bit stickier than masking tape. Thanks again. I'll maybe contact you when I get to the cockpit, skeg and fibreglassing parts but that'll be months away - I'm taking it real steady....

She weighs 35 pounds (15.9 kg), fully equipped and fitted with a skeg. She has the optional ocean cockpit and low foredeck. Rather than using cove-and-bead timber, the hull was built with strips of cedar, 19 mm x 4.5 mm. The square edges were beveled to fit. This was surprisingly easy, and cutting the strips on a home table saw out of a wide plank of 19 mm timber enabled a low cost hull to be built.
Nick.

Nick, your Sept 21, 2017 entry is the first one in this whole series, since Feb 28 2014, to actually have a picture showing. All others showed a graphic from photobucket, indicating a need for update. Not sure if that is only on my connection or if everyone has been getting that. Looks like this one is a new hosting. Anyway, it's a boon to now see a photo. I'd love to have seen the others, though.Thanks for your work. Here in Ontario Canada, I learned that one of the people I paddle with has a Shrike. I haven't seen it yet.